4 Days Tsavo West – Amboseli and Tsavo East Safari

Your driver/guide will pick you up from your Kenya coast beach resort or hotel. Hop into the 4 x 4 for the beginning of your journey along the Malindi-Mariakani-Mombasa Road. The approximately 4-5-hour drive will be smooth sailing on a finished tarmac road with refreshment stops along the way. You’ll arrive at Tsavo West National Park, one of the largest parks in Kenya. The first thing you’ll notice is the colours – golden fields, green hills and the white of the clouds against the deep blue sky. This is a place of surprising visuals – wild baobab trees, dark volcanic lava beds and striking oases. We’ll head out on the savannah searching for large and small game – the park features the “Big Five”, including a large elephant population. Unique here is a special rhino sanctuary. We’ll travel there to track these immense but shy creatures in the late afternoon, as the park cools down and the nocturnal rhinos begin to emerge.

As they hunt for breakfast, we’ll “hunt” for them and so begins our first game drive of the day. Later, we’ll visit one of the park’s more unusual spots, Mzima Springs, a verdant oasis fed by millions of gallons of crystal water. We’ll be able to explore on foot along the raffia-shaded shores and find close-up views of hippos, crocodiles, colourful fish, and migratory birds. This place is a respite for the park’s thirsty animals so you may also find monkeys, baboons and others frequenting this nourishing spot. But soon it’s time to head out to our next national park, Amboseli. It’s a short 2-hour drive and you can measure time and your distance from the park by the appearance of mighty Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance.

This is the best time to view Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, its majestic peak watching out over the park. Later, after a full safari breakfast, we’ll do a bit more game watching as we exit the park and head upon the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway, journeying to Tsavo East National Park. When you enter the gate at Tsavo East, with its endless horizons and wild, rugged grasslands, you’ll know you’ve come upon a piece of Africa’s history. One of Kenya’s old parks, this is the place of legend, of the famous and fierce Tsavo lions and other big game. The land here is open, making animal spotting an easier and relaxed experience. Look for lion, but also leopard, Cape buffalo, and the park’s great, red elephants, called so because they roll in the rusty-coloured soil found here. Take a moment to appreciate all that nature has given us to enjoy.

We’ll be up early to make the most of our game driving time. Traveling over the open savannah country here is an exhilarating experience and there’s nothing like the first animal sighting of the day. We’ll visit the park’s famous watering holes – these are attractive spots, made even more compelling by the sight of the many animals drawn to the life-giving waters found here. Look for zebra, giraffe but also eland, impala and some of the park’s 500 species of birds. Soon it’s time for lunch, which will be served at an al fresco restaurant with great views of the plains and savannahs of Tsavo East.